204

WAREHOUSES  IN  FOREIGN  COUNTRIES.

chants.  In  all  other  towns  throughout  the  colony  the  public  bonds
are  conducted  by  private  individuals.
These  warehouses  receive  and  deliver  all  sorts  of  goods,  repack
tobacco,  cigars,  etc.,  and  reweigh  fruits,  and  charge  according  to
a  fixed  scale. 0
All  classes  of  goods  are  stored  in  warehouses,  more  particularly
the  merchandise  that  bears  the  highest  rate  of  duty—namely,  tobacco, ­
  cigars,  and  boots  and  shoes.  The  more  prominent  merchants
use  the  bonded  warehouse  considerably,  and  some  of  the  smaller  firms
and  private  individuals  who  have  no  storage  room  of  their  own
depend  entirely  upon  the  public  bond  warehouses.  There  are  no
American  firms  in  Auckland  who  make  use  of  the  warehouses.
When  goods  have  been  stored  in  bond  for  three  years,  they  must
be  either  rewarehoused  for  another  term  of  three  years  or  destroyed
or  sold  by  public  auction  to  defray  duty  and  bond  rent,  and  in  this
respect  all  nationalities  are  treated  alike.  The  goods  are  conveyed
from  the  wharf  or  from  bond  by  wagons  or  carts  at  a  rate  of  2
shillings  (48  cents)  per  ton.  Stationed  at  every  public  bond  warehouse ­
  there  is  a  government  official  who  is  called  a  locker.  The
duties  of  this  officer  are  to  see  that  the  proper  entries  are  passed
and  that  there  is  no  default  in  payment  of  the  duty.
F.  Dillingham,  Consul-General.
Auckland,  New  Zealand,  July  21,1904.

SAMOA.
(From  United  States  Consul-General  Heimrod,  Apia,  Samoa.)
The  facilities  in  this  district  for  storage  of  merchandise  in  transit
or  bond,  from  which  goods  may  be  withdrawn  for  shipment  elsewhere ­
  without  payment  of  customs  dues,  are  (1)  the  government
warehouse,  owned  by  the  German  Government  and  conducted  by  its
customs  officials—a  one-story  frame  building  30  by  70  feet,  erected  at
an  approximate  cost  of  $3,000;  (2)  a  private  storeroom,  owned  by
the  Deutsche  Handels  and  Plantagen  Gesellschaft,  used  exclusively
for  the  storage  of  its  own  merchandise  in  transit  or  bond.  It  comprises ­
  the  basement  of  the  company’s  principal  store.  Approximate
height  from  base  to  ceiling,  12  feet;  width,  30  feet,  and  depth,  180
feet.
The  scale  of  charges  for  entry  and  storage  in  the  government
warehouse  is  as  follows:  For  the  handling  of  each  package,  including ­
  entry  and  withdrawal,  40  pfennigs  (9.52  cents)  ;  for  storage  per
month,  not  exceeding  1  cubic  meter  (35,314  cubic  feet),  20  pfennigs,
(4.76  cents)  ;  more  than  1  cubic  meter,  per  month,  40  pfennigs  (9.52
cents).
The  principal  articles  placed  in  the  government  warehouse  comprise ­
  all  kinds  of  alcoholic  drinks,  cigars,  and  tobacco,  of  which
about  6  per  cent  are  imported  from  the  United  States.  The  time
goods  remain  in  bond  seldom  exceeds  six  months.  The  removal  of
a  Tariff  of  charges  is  on  iile  in  the  Bureau  of  Statistics,  Department  of  Commerce ­
  and  Labor.